Research of Logo shapes and colors in the hotel industry PDF

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THE IMPACT OF LOGO DESIGN TOWARDS CUSTOMER’S
BRAND IMAGE PERCEPTION: A RESEARCH OF LOGO
SHAPES AND COLORS IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY
Munawaroh
Swiss German University
Abstract
Brand image is how a brand perceived by the customer. The brand image
perception shaped by certain attributes of the company that has been delivered
through Corporate Visual Identity (CVI). CVI is a visible elements of a brand,
often regarded as one aspect that creates company’s image through logo or
symbol. The purpose of this research was to determine the significant impact
between shapes and colors used in logo design and customers’ brand perception
in hotel industry. This research was done with quantitative method where the data
was primarily collected through distributing the questionnaires. The data
collecting process involves 100 respondents who reside in the Greater Jakarta
Area. Multiple regression analysis in SPSS version 21.0 was used to analyze the
data. The result of this research showed that both shapes and colors used in the
logo have strong impact on how brand image perceived by the customers. Shapes
of the logo influence the brand image perception with a percentage of 92.5%,
while colors affect the brand image perception with a percentage of 92.4%. Based
on the result, it can be concluded that applying certain shapes and colors in the
logo design can help hotel industry to enhance the desired brand image and
create a strong brand positioning in the market.
Keywords: Logo Design, Brand Image, Shapes, Colors, Hotel Industry
Introduction
Corporate Identity is described as the communications, impressions, and
personality projected by an organization (Mullins & Orville C Walker, 2010).
Corporate Identity aids the company to shape the right image for the customer to
perceive. One of the essential parts that shape corporate identity is the logo, which
is also known as Corporate Visual Identity (CVI). An effective logo must be able
to portray the company’s values and present clear messages and images of the
company.
This research aim to identify the influence of corporate identity in terms of
logos toward brand image perception by the customer. Study needed in order to
identify how the selection of shapes in a hotel’s logo can lead to a certain
perception of the brand image by the customer, and how the selection of colors in
a hotel’s logo can lead to a certain perception of the brand image by the customer.

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The objective of this research is to understand the correlation between
shapes and colors in logo design towards how customers perceive the brand.
Hence, the hypotheses can be presented as follows:
H01: The shapes of the logo will not build certain perception of a brand which
defines the company brand’s personality.
H02: The colors of the logo will not build certain perception of a brand which
defines the company brand’s personality.
Literature Review
Logo :As one of the marketing tool, logo has specific purpose for the company.
The functions of logo based on Rustan (2010):
1. Corporate Identity, to show the specific characteristic a company has.
2. Ownership, to differentiate one company to another.
3. Quality assurance
4. Avoiding piracy
Brand: is a unique design, sign, words, or a combination of these,
employed in creating an image that identifies a product or company (Business
Dictionary, 2014). A distinctive brand of a company will help the company to
stand out among competitors, and thus creates images for customer to perceive.
The images will further be associated with the corporate identity, including its
quality, standard, and value. The branding process through visual identity when
undertaken properly, will outcome a significant impact. According to Brand
Cookbook (Holland & Surya, 2012), a brand is the result of combining all
elements, characteristic and emotional experience, from which customers gain a
unique offering in terms of reputation, consumer experience, implicit promises,
price, attitude, and many more.
Brand Image : Companies look for ways to connect emotionally with
customers, become irreplaceable, and create lifelong relationships. Hence, having
a strong brand will outcome great number of advantages in the competitive
market. A strong brand will makes people feel attached to it, trust the brand and
believe in the brand’s excellence. How a brand is perceived affects its success.
(Wheeler,2012).To deliver the image of the brand, the company must first form
the awareness of their brand in the customers. Creating brand awareness by
increasing the familiarity of the brand through repeated exposure (for brand
recognition) and forging strong associations with the appropriate product category
or other relevant purchase or consumption cues (for brand recall) is an important
first step in building brand equity (Keller, 2013). After the brand awareness is
gained, companies can then emphasis on creating the brand image. Creating a
positive brand image must be supported by the presence of good marketing
program. Marketing program is essential to connect the brand into a certain
association in customers’ memory, or simply called brand association. Brand
associations reflect consumers’ perceptions of the brand (Andersen, 2011). The
two types of brand association are brand attributes and brand benefits. The set of
descriptive features that portray the brand is called brand attributes, while brand

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benefits defined as the personal value and meaning that consumers attach to the
product or service attributes (Keller, 2013).
Aaker Brand Personality Scale : Brand personality is defined as the set
of human characteristics associated with a brand. Five dimensions of brand
personality are sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness.
Each dimension then consists of several traits that belong to the group. (in Munir
and Marchetti 2011 ).
Methodology
This research follows a descriptive and causal study method as was
conducted to gain knowledge by analyzing the variables and to measure the
impact of logo design towards brand perception. The primary research data was
gathered from the questionnaire that distributed to the citizen in Greater Jakarta
Area. The research emphasizes on citizen’s basic knowledge about hotel brand
and how a logo design of the hotel affected the hotel brand’s personality. The
questionnaire consisted of 21 close ended questions with 4 general questions
regarding respondents’ demographic profile, 1 colorblind test question to ensure
that respondent participated in the questionnaire do not suffer from color
blindness. There are also 8 questions with shapes as stimulus and another 8
questions with colors as stimulus, and the respondents would choose the answer
based on the Aaker Brand Personality Scale characteristics.
Table 1
Questionnaire Outline
Category Source
Demographic General Questions
Color Blindness Test Dr. Shinobu Ishihara Color Blindness Test derived from
Colblindor (2010)
Logo Shapes 8 shapes with specific meaning in logo design derived from
Bradley(2010) and Wilde (2013):
Circle
Rectangles and Squares
Triangles
Vertical Lines/ Shapes
Horizontal Lines/ Shapes
Curves
Sharp Angles
Spirals
Logo Colors 8 colors with specific meaning in logo design derived from Labrecque
& Milne (2011) and Cerrato (2012):
Red
Yellow
Blue
Orange
Purple
Green
Black
White

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Category Source
Brand Image Perception The Aaker Brand Personality Scale derived from Aaker (1997)
in Muniz & Marchetti (2010):
Sincerity
Excitement
Competence
Sophistication
Ruggedness
Figure 1
Conceptual Framework
Population are citizens of greater Jakarta Area (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok,
Tangerang, and Bekasi),Male and Female,18 to 50 years old and simple random
sampling method used to give equal chance of population to be selected
(Cooper&Schindler, 2014). Research object were the logo of the hotels around
the greater Jakarta area. There is no specific hotel logo determined as the research
object as this research tends to measure the impact of logo to brand image of hotel
industry in general. The shapes and colors were then be interpreted according to
brand personality scale in order to see how the brand of particular hotel is
perceived based on the logo design. Number of sample was taking using PH state
calculation .